“Forever chemicals” could be leaching into the Brisbane River at dangerous levels from a major industrial facility.
A government report revealed PFAS was detected at the Chevron fuel terminal in Eagle Farm at levels many times higher than ecological guidelines, and may have been polluting the surrounding environment.
“That’s a truly dangerous level,” Western Sydney University water scientist doctor Ian Wright said after reading the published results.
“It’s like a lightning bolt of ‘my God, this is very, very serious’.”
PFAS chemicals were first mass-produced by US conglomerate 3M in the late 1940s.
They are prized for their water-resistant and heatproof properties, but persist in the environment and are linked to serious adverse health effects.
The masthead previously revealed a variant known to cause cancer had been detected in Brisbane drinking water, through testing a government agency attempted to keep secret.
The environment enforcement order issued to Chevron in March shows variants PFOS, PFHxS and carcinogen PFOA were identified in soil, groundwater and “washdown” at the 23 Theodore Street site in an investigation commissioned by the company.
It confirmed “forever chemicals” may have been discharged into the surrounding environment including the Brisbane River about 700 metres away.
“The department considers that the activities being conducted at the premises have the potential to cause harm,” the report said.
Wright identified the contamination of groundwater as the biggest risk to the environment and public health.
“Groundwater is the hardest thing to control … if it’s in groundwater it’s going to find its way downstream into all kinds of environments,” he said.
PFOS in groundwater was regularly identified at levels above the 99 per cent and 95 per cent species protection ecological water quality guidelines, with the total PFAS sum in groundwater recorded as high at 93.9 micrograms per litre.
“That is like 10,000 times above the ecological guidelines, it is massive … it’s an astronomical number,” Wright added.
Chevron is required to conduct extensive sampling and further investigate potential PFAS pathways, with a final report due in 2027.
“We take our environmental obligations seriously and are committed to strong environmental stewardship,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“We have robust measures and processes in place to ensure we operate safely and reliably, in line with community expectation and relevant environmental regulations.”
The source of PFAS contamination in Brisbane water has never been conclusively identified, but a type of firefighting foam that is no longer used may have contributed.
It could have been used to put out fires or conduct training at the fuel facility.
There are dozens of industrial sites all the way up the Brisbane River that may have used similar equipment, with chemicals since leeching into water.
“Even if they dropped a litre of the raw material, that could contaminate a massive area for decades,” Wright said.
“I’ve never worked with such evil material to be honest.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation did not respond to specific questions about its report.
This masthead revealed at the end of 2024 that a “forever chemical” known to cause cancer had been found in Brisbane drinking water.
Email chains obtained under right to information laws showed staff at Seqwater actively worked to try and prevent that information becoming public.
Some ministerial briefing documents requested after those stories were published have been withheld on request of the government. This masthead has appealed that decision.
None of the documents released show Water Minister Ann Leahy was briefed on the data after it was covered in the media.
The government began publishing additional data on PFAS testing for drinking water publicly in 2024.
“Since coming to Government, the Minister for Water has worked with water providers to increase the water quality information made publicly available to our community,” a spokesperson for the minister said.
“At a state level, we have a strict legislative environment to ensure water service providers are proactive in complying with Commonwealth Drinking Water Guidelines.”
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